Drug-induced lupus erythematosus
Lúpus eritematoso induzido por droga
CategoryDefinition
Drug-induced lupus erythematosus is a syndrome in which positive antinuclear antibodies are associated with symptoms, such as fever, malaise, arthritis, intense arthralgia/myalgia, serositis, and/or rash. The syndrome appears during therapy with certain medications (e.g., procainamide, hydralazine, phenytoin) and tumour necrosis factor inhibitors. It occurs predominantly in Caucasians, has less female predilection than SLE, rarely involves kidneys or brain, is rarely associated with anti-dsDNA, is commonly associated with antibodies to histones, and usually resolves over several weeks after discontinuation of the offending medication.
Diagnostic Criteria
Patient has one or more clinical symptoms of SLE, ANA's are present, no history of SLE prior to initiating culprit drug, drug was taken 3 weeks to 2 years prior to the appearance of symptoms, clinical improvement is rapid when the drug is discontinued, whereas antinuclear antibodies and other serologic markers slowly decrease toward more normal levels